


Gift of the Ocean

by Electrons



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Childbirth, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:55:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28029639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Electrons/pseuds/Electrons
Summary: When Hama is a young woman at the Southern Water Tribe, the Ocean brings her a gift. When Kanna is an old woman at the Southern Water Tribe, the Ocean brings her a gift.
Relationships: Hama/Kanna (Avatar)
Comments: 12
Kudos: 41
Collections: ATLA Winter Solstice 2020





	Gift of the Ocean

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Esaleyon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Esaleyon/gifts).



> This is the first fic exchange I've ever done; it was a fun experience! I wrote stories I almost certainly never would have otherwise. I really hope the recipient enjoyed this story!
> 
> The recipient asked for a Hama/Kanna with queerness, class traitors, sympathetic Hama, found family and bittersweet romance. I hope this fits the bill. :D

Blue and purple swirls decorated the sails of the small boat approaching their dilapidated ice dock. Hama turned to her brother and frowned. "Sokka, I don't recognize that design. What family does it belong to?"

Sokka stared at the sails, eyes wide. He laughed. "None that you or I would know. That boat is from the Northern Water Tribe."

Hama gaped at him. "You're such a liar," she accused. She kicked his ankle.

"I am not!" He melted some ice and caught her foot in the water, freezing it again as he did.

Hama almost fell, but she lifted a block of ice from the ground to catch herself on and then melted the ice around her foot, splashing Sokka with the water. They were both laughing and dripping when the boat stopped and its lone passenger exited. "Hama," Sokka said, sounding surprised.

"What?" She looked over her shoulder. A woman was standing on the dock, looking around in vain for moorings. She rested a hand on her swollen belly.

Hama rushed over to the dock. The woman obviously wasn't a bender, or she already would have taken care of her boat. Hama bent the ice around the boat, keeping it in place. Hama looked at the woman and raised a skeptical brow.

The woman blushed. "Thank you," she said.

"Where is the rest of your party," Hama asked. "What happened? We haven't heard anything from our sister tribe in over a year." Hama let bitterness soak her voice for the final statement.

The woman looked down at the ice. "There isn't anyone with me," she admitted. "My name is Kanna. I… I ran away."

Hama stared at her. "By yourself?"

Kanna nodded.

"You crossed the whole world all by yourself?!"

Kanna nodded again, face getting warmer and warmer.

Hama laughed with delight. "What a story that must be! Our Elders will be delighted to hear it. You and the baby must be hungry. Come have some stew."

Kanna looked up, eyes wide with surprise. "Really? Oh, thank you! I'm starved," she admitted.

Hama offered her arm to the fascinating stranger. Kanna took it with great relief. Hama helped Kanna navigate through the snow with slow waddles. Hama smoothed out the snow in front of Kanna so she wouldn't trip.

Kanna turned to stare at Hama. "You're a Waterbender?!"

"One of the best there is," Hama bragged.

Sokka scoffed as he approached them. "She's passable."

"I'm brilliant," Hama insisted.

Kanna shook her head. "In the North, it is forbidden for women to learn waterbending."

Hama frowned. "That's ridiculous. I'm a Waterbender. I have to be trained."

Kanna continued to stare at her with confusion. "Women are only allowed to learn to heal in my tribe."

"Well, welcome to the south," Sokka said. "We do things a bit differently here."

Kanna nodded, but she looked confused. Hama didn't worry about her confusion. She led Kanna to her family's igloo. Hama pulled out a frozen pot of stew. She weakened the bonds between the molecules of the liquid, allowing the molecules freedom of movement, generating heat. The soup was bubbling, creating a pleasant smell, in moments.

Kanna stared in wonder. "How did you do that?!"

Hama laughed. "You've never seen waterbending before?"

"Not like that!" Kanna was bouncing with excitement. The warmth of her eager curiosity delighted Hama, creating an exuberant feeling inside of her. "I've never seen a Waterbender heat water before!"

"It's as easy as creating ice, just in the opposite direction." Hama ladled soup into a bowl for Kanna.

"Pakku was supposed to be the best Waterbender in our tribe, and I never saw him heat water, ever." Kanna's excitement faded away. She looked at the ground. "He was supposed to be a lot of things."

Hama glanced at Kanna's swollen belly. "Is he the father?"

Kanna considered that question. "No," she said after a long pause. "I've been carrying this child for months. I've protected this baby, kept this baby fed and warm. There is no father, just me."

Hama nodded. That sounded difficult and lonely. She was hit by a wave of respect and admiration for Kanna. She might not be a powerful warrior like Hama, but she was brave and strong.

"Eat up," Hama encouraged Kanna.

Kanna's smile returned, a calmer, softer smile. Kanna devoured the soup, and Hama was more than happy to provide copious refills. Once Kanna and her baby were full, Hama brought her to meet the Elders. Their inquiry was simple. They wanted to know why she had undertaken such a dangerous journey during such a dangerous time while in such a dangerous condition, with no one to help her.

Kanna swallowed. "They wanted me to marry a man I did not love. They wanted me to bind myself to him for the rest of my life. I have so much more life to live; a moment's indiscretion shouldn't be the end of my youth."

The Elders raised many brows at that. One woman, one of their oldest Elders, who remembered a time before the war, when ships arrived from and left for their sister tribe almost every day, spoke. "I see by your clothing that you come from a noble family. We do not have noble families in the south. Everyone must work."

Kanna met the Elder's gaze. "I am not afraid to work. Anything that you are willing to teach me, I am willing to do." Hama couldn't help but grin at the bold pronouncement.

"Kanna can stay with my family," she piped up. "Sokka and I will look after her. We'll teach her whatever she needs to know."

The Elders agreed to that. Kanna gave Hama a grateful smile. Hama felt warmth under her cheeks. She wanted to see each and every one of Kanna's smiles. She wanted to be the source of all of them.

Kanna was a quick study. Hama taught her easy repetitive tasks that wouldn't put too much strain on her pregnant body. Kanna complained often about it. "I don't need to be coddled."

"You're pregnant," Sokka pointed out.

"Hush. I'm not talking to you."

Sokka put up his hands in surrender. "Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt your domestic squabble."

Hama glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?!"

Sokka had the good sense to flee from the two women.

Kanna and Hama glared at each other. "I can do more. I can contribute more. I’m not just an incubator."

"You can," Hama assured Kanna. "You will. I'll help you. Once you've recovered from the birth, you will find me to be an unforgiving taskmaster."

Kanna gave Hama a suspicious look. "Fine," she said. She went back to braiding the fishing net.

"Do you have a name picked out yet," Hama asked.

"My father's name was Hakoda," Kanna said. "We were very close."

"Hakoda is a good name, a strong name," Hama said with approval.

Kanna smiled at her. "I'm glad you like it."

Hama felt her own smile growing. "I know it doesn't really matter what I think."

"It does matter," Kanna assured her. "It matters to me."

Hama helped deliver the baby. His name was Hakoda. He screamed with great volume as he entered the world. His mother screamed with him, and Hama laughed at them.

"I hate you," Kanna yelled after she finished screaming.

"You don't," Hama assured her. "I didn't do this to you." Hama cleaned the blood and other body fluids off the baby.

Kanna gazed at him. "Hi, Dad. Welcome back to the world. I promise to do as good a job of raising you as you did me. I'll make sure you have all the opportunities I didn't. Your life will be full of freedom."

Hama grinned at the two of them. "I'll protect you, both of you," she promised Hakoda. "I will never let anyone hurt you." The baby kept screaming. That was fine. It was good exercise for his lungs.

"You sound like you're his mother too," Kanna teased her.

Hama blushed. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I like it."

Sokka was a good uncle. Sometimes he would take Hakoda away for an hour or two. Hama and Kanna would sit together, bundled up in the same blanket, telling stories that were different in each tribe. They would argue about which version was superior until their arguments ended in kisses. So in the end, they both won.

Sometimes they sat in front of the fire and cooked together while Hakoda nursed or babbled or cried. They passed him back and forth, freeing up hands to add or prepare ingredients. Hama would blow polarberries onto his cheeks and he would shriek with laughter. The food they prepared together always tasted better than what she had used to make alone.

There were times that Hama forgot she ever hadn't been in love with Kanna. Sometimes it felt like Kanna had always been there, through every significant moment of her life, although, of course that wasn't true. When Sokka asked when they were getting married, Hama almost laughed at his foolishness, because she forgot they weren't already married. So she asked her.

"No." Kanna said the word with such casual ease. Hama wasn't sure if she had heard right. Kanna continued to rock Hakoda in her arms.

"No?"

"No," Kanna reiterated.

"You… don't want to marry me?"

"Nope," Kanna answered. "I don't."

"But… I thought you loved me." Hama felt her heart break a little bit.

"I do," Kanna said. "I don't want to marry you though."

Hama felt irritation flare up in her blood. "Why not?"

"Because I love you." Kanna smiled at her. For the first time, Hama discovered a smile of Kanna's that she didn't like.

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"I'm with you because I love you. If we got married, we would be together because we were married, because of obligation. Right now it's a choice. Why would we want to get rid of our choices?"

Hama stared at Kanna, confused and furious. "So we can spend the rest of our lives together!"

"We can do that anyway," Kanna said with breezy nonconcern.

Hama glared at her. "Has all of this just been a game to you?"

Kanna's smile slipped away. "What do you mean?"

"I thought we were creating a family together. Have you just been using me?!"

Kanna shook her head. "Hama, of course not! Hama, I love you."

"You have a funny way of showing it." Hama stormed away. She could hear Hakoda start crying, but she didn't turn around to look at him.

Those were the last words Hama got to say to Kanna for a long time. When the battle was over, when she saw her brother dead on the ground, when the Fire Nation dragged her away, she looked for Kanna. Kanna was in the crowd of terrified villagers. She was staring at Hama, face covered in snot and tears.

Hama tried to memorize every feature. She wouldn't get to see any of those features again for decades. She saw them in a tiny Fire Nation village, on her granddaughter's face. Her name was Katara.

"This is my brother, Sokka," Katara explained.

Hama stared at her grandson, who carried her brother's spirit. "I bet you're very competitive and love a good joke," Hama couldn't help but say.

"Yeah! How'd you know?"

Hama smiled. It was good to see her brother again. Her smile started to tremble. Tears leaked from her eyes.

"Hama, are you okay?" Katara stared at her with wide blue eyes, full of sympathy and love. She didn't even know who Hama was yet, just thought she was an Elder far from home. Hama wanted to hold her tight and never let go.

"Hama," Sokka asked.

"I need to tell you who I am," Hama explained.

In the end, they cried together. Katara and Sokka promised to take her to be reunited with the son she had prayed to the Moon and Ocean for every single day since her capture. She had begged the Great Spirits to protect Hakoda in her stead, since she was in a distant land and unable to keep her promise to him. When she met Hakoda again, he was a man, not a baby. When he realized who she was, he wept and called her Mother.

Hama was certain that she was dreaming, hallucinating. She was certain that she was still in a cage somewhere. None of it was real. She couldn't accept it.

She didn't acknowledge that she was free until she stepped off a ship onto the icy shore of home. Kanna was there waiting for her. She was crying again, but this time it was for joy instead of grief. "Alright," she said before Hama could say a word. "I'll marry you."

Hama stared at her. "What makes you think I still want to marry you?"

"Do you?"

"Of course, Stupid." Then they were both crying. Then they were embracing. The Ocean had brought them together once. He had done it again.

**Author's Note:**

> Look me up at https://electronswrites.tumblr.com/ for questions about fics.


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